Like No One Ever Was
by AsshatLP
Summary: The scene was one as old as time: two trainers, twelve pokemon, and nothing more to be said.


Though he heard the other trainer's approach, Red didn't bother to around. He merely nodded, almost imperceptibly, as the newcomer panted in an attempt to regain their breath. Red knew firsthand how difficult it was to climb Mt. Silver for the first time; it stood to reason that the trainer would be exausted. As he waited, the only sounds being the falling snow and the other trainer's labored breathing, Red looked out to the north. If he squinted, he could almost see the distant peak of Mt. Coronet. Perhaps he'd travel to Sinnoh later- or perhaps he already had. It all seemed to blur together after the first few regions. Finally, the newcomer regained their composure.

"Red."

It wasn't a question so much as an accusation, a fact which caught Red off-guard. He had thought he'd covered his tracks well over the past year, but clearly someone had found him out. For the first time, he turned to face the trainer, and took in his first new opponent in more than a year. The boy looked to be about eleven, who wore jet black sweatpants and a red hoodie. A yellow and black hat covered his dark hair, but the boy's most striking feature was the red box clipped to his belt- a Pokedex.

Red's fingers absently brushed over his own, much older model Pokedex; he always carried it with him out of habit, despite the fact that he hadn't used it in years. He narrowed his eyes as he realized what this meant: the boy had found him, knew who he was, and owned a Pokedex... clearly the old man had been busy. It was a conceited assumption, Red knew that, but it was definitely the type of thing Oak would do. It was only natural that when one of his experiments went "rogue," the professor would simply groom another one to take its place. Sending this kid to fight Red was a mere passing of the metaphorical torch.

A second glance made him pause- the boy seemed fairly innocent, if slightly annoyed. It seemed as though he was doing this for the spirit of the adventure. Maybe Oak had nudged him along slightly (after all, the guards had allowed the kid to explore the mountain), but there was no malice in his eyes.

Red wished the same could be said of his belt.

Amidst five generic red and white spheres, one stood out. Mostly purple, with two light pink circles adorning the top, the Master Ball seemed to shake. Whatever was inside was looking forward to the challenge.

The scene was one as old as time: two trainers, twelve pokemon, and nothing more to be said. Both boys reached for their respective belt, and unhooked a Pokeball. The newcomer lifted a hand to the brim of his cap, and turned it backwards. Red barely contained a grin at the wave of nostalgia the movement provoked; he himself had made that gesture many times when he knew a battle would be challenging. But while the opponent may have been strong enough to scale the mountain, he was no Red. The master's cap remained pointing forward. Simultaneously, the two Pokeballs were thrown, and the battle began.

As odd as it was to see anyone else at the summit, and as out of practice as he was, Red found himself immediately slipping into routine as his Pikachu materialized from its Pokeball. So did the mouse; he didn't show any surprise as a large Torterra appeared before him. Oddly enough, his opponent smelled only of Kanto and Johto, rather than its native Sinnoh. To the smaller Pokemon, the oddity of the smell seemed to trump the fact that the Torterra was a much lighter shade of green than normal.

As the continent Pokemon rushed towards the mouse, Red muttered a single word: "Pikachu." Then again, perhaps he hadn't said it at all; the link he shared with all of his Pokemon seemed to transcend words. Though Red rarely spoke, they always picked up on his most subtle suggestions in battle, none more so than Pikachu. From their very first battle, the trainer and his starter had operated on the same wavelength; they were practically two parts of the same creature.

In response to his trainer's commands (be they verbal or something deeper), Pikachu vanished just as Torterra attempted to slam into it. The Grass-and-Ground type screeched to a halt and looked around quizzically, before Pikachu, tail glowing, dropped from the sky. The smaller Pokemon rotated in the air once, before it crashed down tail first on Torterra's head. Red noted with some satisfaction that it was a critical hit, but his mind had already begun to wander. After all, this battle wasn't nearly as important as many of the others before it...

Suddenly, Red wasn't facing the kid. He was a child himself, maybe eleven or twelve. So was his opponent, a cocky boy in a black sweater with a blue and green yin-yang symbol on the front. His brown hair was characteristically messy, and despite his predicament, Red found his rival's trademark smirk oddly comforting. Rather than the cold peak of the continent's highest mountain, the two fought on the Pallet Town streets, the usual crowd of spectators gathered to watch them. His eyes snapped back to the battle- his rival's Rhydon sported the same cocky smirk as its trainer as it held Red's Pikachu above the ground. The mouse squirmed, clearly uncomfortable, as Red's mind raced. Thunderbolt. Thunder Wave. Hidden Power. Sing. None of those would do much against the titanic Rock-and-Ground type.

Silently, Red cursed his luck. His rival hadn't given him this much trouble in ages. Both were down to their last Pokemon, after an exhaustive battle. As Rhydon threw the injured Pikachu at Red, it occurred to the trainer that he might actually lose this one.

Pikachu slammed into Red's with a squeal, knocking the trainer to the ground. He grunted as a stray spark from the Electric type singed his arm. No matter. They had both gone through worse... Red pulled off his backpack, and looked for a Full Restore, but an Earthquake from the Drill Pokemon knocked him over again. He swore as his backpack flew out of his hands and onto the barely conscious Pikachu, who moaned wearily. Red ran over, searched among the former contents of his backpack (now scattered across the floor), and sprayed the first thing he could find it on the tiny mouse. It was only a Super Potion, but it'd have to do for now. Pikachu's ears perked up, and it bounced back to its feet, accidentally crushing a disk that had fallen from the bag. Red groaned; the disk was a birthday gift from the former Hoenn champion. Still, the fact that Pikachu was back on form was much more important. The tiny mouse's eyes lit up as it rushed over to Rhydon. With a burst of speed neither trainer nor Pokemon knew it had in it, Pikachu jumped, twisted, and slammed its tail into the Rhydon's mouth.

The colossal Pokemon blinked, dazed, as its opponent, clearly using the last of its energy, crouched down and swung with its tail again. It collided with Rhydon's feet, knocking it to the ground. The taller Pokemon tried to glare at Pikachu, but the effect was dampened by the fact that it was now at eye level with the mouse. Panting heavily, it tried to prop itself up, but a third Iron Tail smashed into its nose...

A cry of pain snapped Red back to the present, and made him realize with a start that he had been daydreaming. Pikachu was covered in scratches, and sharp looking leaves were scattered on the ground. Torterra chuckled wearily; clearly the opening Iron Tail hadn't been easily shrugged off. Its body shook slightly, and a second volley of leaves propelled from the tree on its back. Red and Pikachu glanced at each other, and as one, nodded.

The Pokemon grinned and jumped towards its larger opponent. Once again, its tail began to glow. The Torterra's trainer frowned, and spoke for the first time since the battle began. "It's using Iron Tail again! Torterra, shoot an Energy Ball above you!"

Torterra complied, shooting green spheres from its mouth towards where the mouse would be. Pikachu chuckled as Red smirked; everything was going according to plan. Suddenly, the Pikachu's whole body was covered in the white glow that was on its tail, and in the blink of an eye it was underneath the Torterra, slamming into its belly with unbelievable speed. Iron Tail was still a key player in Pikachu's moveset, but they had both progressed a long way from the time they needed to spam the move to win. Especially considering all it took were some slight mind games and a Quick Attack. The Continent Pokemon slumped to the ground, defeated, as Pikachu ran out from under it. Red noted with interest that its second Razor Leaf had destroyed quite a large chunk of the ground beneath the two Pokemon.

The younger trainer frowned, and wordlessly withdrew Torterra. It was replaced by a scowling Swampert, and the battle recommenced. Once again, Pikachu opened with Iron Tail, but with a dismissive shrug, Swampert countered with an Earthquake. Red winced as his starter fell, and sighed as he recalled the mouse. Just as he considered who to send out next, the silence was broken by a shrill ringing. The elder trainer raised an eyebrow as his opponent grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry. Do you mind if I..." Red shrugged, and the younger trainer, still apologizing, answered his Pokegear.

"Hello? Oh. It's you... Yes, you told me... I'm sure it is. That's why you have so many badges... Uh huh. Wow, almost? That's amazing! You've been standing on Route 30 for how many weeks now? ... Look, I'm sort of in the middle of something. I gotta go." The young boy closed the Pokegear with a sigh. He eyed the object, and the edge of the cliff below, and seemed to weigh the benefits of simply tossing it off the mountain. Eventually, he seemed to think better of it, and merely placed the item in his bag.

Both trainers looked at each other, one tilting his head inquisitively, one smiling embarrassedly. "Sorry. Fanboys. You know how it is."

Somehow, through silence and a raised eyebrow, Red managed to show that he knew exactly "how it was," and that one of his own fanboys appeared to have scaled a mountain for a shot at the Pokemon Master. The younger boy scowled, and pointed out matter-of-factly that someone would get shoved off the mountain if they didn't send out their next damn Pokemon.

With a slight chuckle, Red complied, and sent out his trusty Venusaur. To many trainers, sending out a Grass type against a Swampert may have seemed unsporting, but in Red's opinon, it showed his faith in the opponent. The best trainers, in his experience, made sure that their Pokemon were able to at least put up a fight against an opponent with a type advantage. No one had ever questioned Red's philosophy on this subject (for a number of reasons. Red being Red, he had never mentioned it to anyone before. Even if he had, Red being... well, RED, no one would disagree with him for fear of being labeled ignorant.), but he had formed that belief well before becoming a Trainer himself. After all, he reasoned, if super-effective attacks were all it took to win a battle, Gym Leaders would be pushovers.

It took a lot to climb Mt. Silver. Skill smarts, trust, cunning, and balls the size of Golems. Red wasn't entirely convinced that his opponent would be a huge challenge, but the sheer fact that the kid had managed to get to him meant he held Red's respect. Sending out anything else in order to go easy on him would be almost insulting. Besides, you didn't get to be the Pokemon Master by cutting your challengers any slack.

His faith in the boy was not misplaced. Before Venusaur could use the Giga Drain Red hadn't even bothered to order, Swampert struck it with an Ice Beam. The Pokemon wasn't close to defeated by the attack, but to Red's annoyance, it was frozen.

Frozen... As he pulled a Full Restore out of his bag, Red's mind began to wander once more.

Somewhat surprisingly considering how many battles he'd been in, only one of Red's pokemon had ever been frozen before; it had been Venusaur that time as well. Well, Ivysaur at the time, but his point still stood. (Why he felt it necessary to clarify a point he had only made in his head, he didn't know. For someone who talked so little, his brain never seemed to shut up.) Red recalled being almost paralyzed with fear as the Grass type was frozen by its opponent, a fearsome Articuno. He had known that Ice types inhabited the Seafoam Islands, but he had never even imagined that he'd run into a Legendary Bird while he trained. The large blue bird let out a cry of satisfaction as its opponent froze, before it glared at the trainer with the audacity to enter its territory. It took a step towards Red, light blue energy forming around its mouth. Red frowned and quickly reached into his backpack, hoping to find something to cure Ivysaur's dilemma, but to his dismay, it was almost empty. With a pang of regret, Red recalled storing his Ice Heals in order to hold more Ethers. After all, he had never needed the pink spray before anyway. After eighteen hours of nonstop training, all that his bag held was a single Ultra Ball and a Master Ball.

For the second time that day, Red swore, and without much confidence, he tossed the Ultra Ball at the advancing Pokemon.

It shook once. Twice. Three times.

On the second shake, Red allowed himself to breathe. As it shook the third, he let himself think he had a shot. Then his prior experience as a Trainer kicked in, he realized that was insanely stupid and he had already run over to Ivysaur by the time the Ball exploded in a shower of smoke. As the unbelievably angry Articuno roared in anger, Red covered his frozen Pokemon in his jacket, before turning to face the Legendary Pokemon. If he was going to die due to his own unpreparedness, so be it, but he'd be damned if he'd let any of his Pokemon be killed by an overgrown Pidgey with a bigger case of blue-balls than the Pewter Gym Leader. Hugging Ivysaur for what he thought would be the last time, he placed the Pokemon on the ground and glared at the advancing Legendary.

To the mutual surprise of everything in the cave, Articuno hesitated.

It wouldn't be obvious, but quite a lot was racing through Articuno's mind at that point. Despite being rather protective of its twin islands, Articuno wasn't by nature a violent creature. It had never killed, maimed, or even shat on a human, and it was honestly rather offended that this young child thought otherwise. However, there was something about the boy that honestly unnerved the Legendary. His very presence made it feel like pushing itself further than it ever had before. Not even necessarily to win, but simply because anything else would be... dishonest? Disappointing? Regardless, the child was driven, and he perceived Articuno to be a threat. The bird briefly considered that it might be in its best interest to break its own rules and kill the human.

Red's mind was also racing. Ivysaur was hurt, badly, due to Red's own incompetence. If he got the chance, he needed to go to Pallet and give the Grass type some well needed rest. But first, he had to think of a way to defeat an angry Articuno without any usable Pokemon. (The thought to use the Master Ball never even crossed the trainer's mind. It had always seemed too valuable for him to use.)

The two glared at each other, although Articuno's heart wasn't in it. It would be unwise to make the child an enemy. Finally, something inside of Red snapped.

"Ivysaur."

Perhaps responding to the trainer's voice, or perhaps to something deeper, the ice covering the Grass type shattered. Ivysaur stepped forward, clearly damaged, and looked at his trainer. After a few seconds, he conversed briefly with Articuno, to Red's bemusement. Eventually, the two seemed to come to an understanding. The small Grass type wrapped onto the bird's back with a vine, and grabbed his trainer with another. Surprised, Red made an undignified squawk, which only increased in intensity as Articuno began to fly.

The Pokemon in the cave must have laughed for weeks at the ensuing sight. The Legendary Articuno, clearly unnerved, was awkwardly transporting an equally frightened thirteen year old, and an Ivysaur that was trying its hardest not to crack up. Eventually, Articuno deposited them at the exit, nodded to them both, and flew north. Sinnoh, it reasoned, was looking like a particularly nice place to live these days. Less crazy trainers.

Red smiled as he sprayed the Full Restore on Venusaur. That had been the first Legendary he'd ever fought. He frowned again as he realized that by the end of the day, he'd fight one more, if his opponent's Master Ball was any indication. But first...

Venusaur grinned, and shook his head as he was thawed. It'd take more than one Ice Beam to take him down. Especially if it wasn't even STAB'd. With surprising speed, the Venusaur launched a volley of powdery spores towards its opponent. The Swampert grunted and closed its eyes; the Sleep Powder had taken effect ridiculously quickly. A groan from its trainer indicated that the boy had neglected to bring any awakening items with him. This would be easier than they expected.

The Master chuckled and patted his backpack tauntingly; he may have made the same mistake some years ago, but he couldn't resist lording it over the younger boy now. He glanced at the sleeping Swampert, Red snapped his fingers. In response, Venusuar's flower began to glow with a green light, drawing in emerald blobs of energy from Swampert. Maybe if it had been up against any other Grass type, the Mud Fish Pokemon might have won, but Venusaur had spent six years being trained by Red. Trainer and Pokemon smirked, knowing the round was theirs.

His opponent frowned. "Yeah, no. Swampert, Sleep Talk." The Water type muttered its name quietly, as blue energy gathered in its mouth. With a roar, the energy blasted forth. This time, the Ice Beam grew in intensity as it struck the Seed Pokemon- a critical hit. Venusaur growled, and shook its body angrily. Another hit would be all it took to defeat either Pokemon.

Glaring, Red commanded a move he hadn't used in years. "Frenzy Plant." As massive vines snuck out of the flower on Venusaur's back the challenger once again ordered Sleep Talk.

Swampert's eyes opened.

Upon seeing the stance the Swampert took, both trainers groaned. The Mud Fish Pokemon dodged the massive vines, barely, and before Venusaur could react, Swampert slammed into it, with enough force that both Pokemon took damage. The two starters locked eyes, neither willing to be the first to fall. Finally, the Swampert buckled. With one last smile of satisfaction, so did Venusaur.

Red withdrew Venusaur as his opponent recalled Swampert. The kid threw out another Pokeball, and with a burst of smoke, his Typhlosion emerged, ready for battle. In response, Red simply whistled.

Three minutes passed, the three of them just standing there. Eventually, the challenger spoke. "Aren't you going to call out your next Pokemon?

Red smiled, and answered simply. "I did."

Before the younger trainer could ask what he meant, a rush of air answered his question. To the boy's surprise, he heard the steady thumping of beating wings behind him. Turning around, he found himself face to face with a smirking Charizard.

Sweat dripped down the boy's face as the mighty lizard roared. Unlike its trainer, Typhlosion wasn't impressed; the Volcano Pokemon simply crossed its arms and looked dismissively at the dual-type. The Charizard let out a low chuckle, and flew next to his trainer, who waited impassively. While Red held complete trust for all of his Pokemon, there were times when he didn't see eye to eye with Charizard. Not surprising, considering he was simply borrowing it.

He was fifteen again. Green, his best friend and rival stood to his right, his trademark smirk plastered on his face. For once, it wasn't directed toward Red, but instead the two trainers standing in front of them. Green said something (most likely a smug attempt at trash talk), but Red couldn't hear it over the roar of the audience. Truth be told, he'd always hated battling in front of large crowds, but it was good publicity for the Kanto region. Any battle involving Red or Green was bound to draw an audience, but a double battle between themselves and the two most recent champions of Hoenn brought even more attention than he could imagine. The Indigo Plateau stadium was packed more than he had ever seen before.

The battle hadn't even begun yet, and already Red was feeling bored. Hoenn must have had a complete lack of talent if two clowns like these were the champions. They may have been decent trainers, but for Arceus's sake, they used themed parties. Water and Steel... Red or Green alone could take them both down; combined their opponents stood no chance. The Steel trainer (Steven, Red recalled from their prior meeting) stood with his arms crossed, and a somewhat pained expression. He appeared to have the same aversion to audiences as Red. His partner on the other hand... "Attention whore" didn't even begin to descrive it. He was wearing a cape, for Mew's sake. Who the hell wore a cape in public? Of course, that wasn't nearly as bad as Green's new mullet...

To Red's complete disbelief, the roaring crowd actually became silent when Professor Oak, standing at the side of the battle field, raised his hand. "The double battle between the Kanto and Hoenn Champions will now commence! No items may be used, and each trainer may use one Pokemon. For the sake of the Champions and their Pokemon, we ask you to please remain quiet, and silence your Pokegears. Recording any portion of this match is prohibited!" Oak's voice lowered slightly. "...although I'm sure it'll be up on ChuTube in a matter of hours. Trainers, are you ready?"

Wallace flourished his cape and laughed. "The question isn't whether I'm ready. The question is if everyone else here is prepared to be marveled by the beauty of my Pokemon!"

Green wasn't amused. "Quit the showboating and fight. No one came to see you dance around in tights and a cape!" Steven sighed, caught Red's eye, and shrugged. Partners could be stupid sometimes.

Oak shrugged. "I'll take that as a yes then. Game on!"

His grandson smirked. "Charizard, let's rock this bitch!" The orange lizard burst from its Pokeball, smoke shooting out of its nostrils.

Wallace gasped. "Such profane language! Children are watching this performance! Milotic, take the stage! Show this ruffian your elegant charm!" With a shower of bubbles, the Tender Pokemon came forth. Red noted with some disgust that its Pokeball was covered in seals. He'd always found them to be tacky.

Steven rolled his eyes at his partner's theatrics. "Metagross, go." The Steel-Psychic type came forth simply, and stared at the other two Pokemon.

As for Red... "Pikachu." The mouse hopped down from its perch on Red's shoulder and ran next to Charizard. This would be one hell of a fight.

Unsurprisingly, Green was the first to issue a command. "Flamethrower!" Charizard complied, blasting a stream of white hot flame towards the Metagross.

Wallace jumped to action. "Milotic, take the hit, then use Recover!" The serpentine pokemon instantly uncoiled and sprang forth, taking the brunt of Charizard's Flamethrower. As could be expected, it did minimal damage to the water type, but the red tinge the struck areas took on showed that it had been burned. Milotic glowed briefly, and restored the initial damage from the attack, but winced in pain seconds later.

Steven was the next to take the offensive, as he ordered a Psychic attack. The Iron Leg Pokemon's eyes shone with a blue light, and a concussive force seemed to strike Pikachu from out of nowhere. The mouse shook its head and grinned; it would take far more than that to knock it out. For the sake of the audience, Red elected to actually state his command: "Volt Tackle."

Pikachu ran forth, as lighting crackled from his cheeks. As it sped up, the lighting expanded, and enveloped his entire body. With a cry that sounded like thunder, the mouse slammed into the Milotic with all of its strength. The Water type winced, and collapsed, unconscious.

Wallace sputtered something incoherent as he recalled his Pokemon. His partner shrugged. "Typical. Metagross, it's up to us now. Pikachu's taken a lot of damage between your Psychic and its own Volt Tackle. Let's finish it off quickly. Earthquake."

The Iron Leg Pokemon slammed a steel claw into the ground, cracking the entire battle field. The force of the tremors damaged the electric type enough, but the chunks of earth they caused to fly out did the real damage. With a squeal, Pikachu fainted.

Green groaned, and patted Red on the shoulder. "Don't worry dude. We still got this. Since you got Captain Fabulous out of the way, it's just Charizard and Metagross now." Red nodded. He himself may have been out of the fight, but Green would be able to handle the rest.

And handle it he did. The two Pokemon stared at each other, waiting for their opponent to make the first move. Finally, Steven spoke. "Shadow Ball." The pseudo-legendary gave a brief nod, before it opened its mouth. With an odd buzzing, a dark purple sphere of energy shot forth, smacking Charizard in the stomach. The starter roared in pain, while his trainer commanded a Smokescreen.

Black smoke billowed forth from Charizards nostrils, and proceeded to cloud the entire arena. Steven, however, would have none of that. "Psychic." From within the obscured battlefield came yet another roar of pain; obviously Metagross's attack had hit.

Red frowned. Charizard had already taken a lot of damage, and being hit with a STABed Psychic wasn't anything near pleasant. Green, however, seemed completely unphased. In fact, the former Kanto Champion was laughing. "Just as planned. Charizard, let's go. Blaze!"

The area was still surrounded by black smoke, but from within the center shone an immensely powerful light. Slowly, the light grew to the shape and size of Green's Charizard, before expanding rapidly into a firey aura."Now. Blast Burn!"

The smoke cleared as Charizard flapped its wings. The blazing aura surrounding its body was sucked into its mouth, which closed with a snap as the Charizard's eyes began to glow red. The fire on its tail grew rapidly before shrinking into a tiny white flame. With a single roar, the largest stream of fire Red had ever seen blazed forth, directly towards the Psychic type. There was a blinding flash, a deafening roar, and then...

The light dimmed. Red stared in awe at the scorched arenea, and the completely unconscious Metagross. Smoke issued from its now red hot body. Nodding, Steven recalled his Pokemon. "Good job."

Three hours later, back in Pallet Town, Red sat at his computer, thinking. The battle had gone well, he couldn't deny that. The Kanto team had won, meaning that they would host the next month's National League. That'd keep most of the people he knew happy, but Red himself couldn't be bothered. Another league was another league. He'd be expected to enter, and expected to win. Really, after all the years, he'd have rather have been out doing anything different. Maybe he'd give contests a try for a while. Those might provide a challenge.

Still... He didn't understand how he could be bored with battling after losing to Metagross. Clearly, the challenge was still there; that wasn't the problem. While Red would probably have trounced Steven in a single battle, that didn't change the fact that he had lost right then and there. Back in the old days, he had loved the entire experience of battling. Winning, losing, it all excited him, made him feel alive. But these days, it was like some dark tentacles from the deep had come and taken away the excitement. The spark was gone, and he didn't know why.

Pikachu, on the other hand, seemed as excited as ever. The yellow Pokemon jumped on Red's bed, and laughed gleefully as his trainer's hat flew up into the air with every bounce. Despite his own melancholy, Red couldn't help but smile; Pikachu's cheerfulness had always been infectious. Coming to a decision, Red stood up, stretched, and to Pikachu's dismay, grabbed his hat out of the air. It was time to pay his rival a visit.

No matter how many times he'd visited the Viridian Gym, Red had never really gotten used to the fact that his best friend was a Gym Leader. Green didn't really seem the type, and Gym Leader was a hell of a step down from Champion. Still, no matter how awkward it was at first, they always ended up as relaxed as they would be if they were chatting back in Pallet instead of the back room of the Gym. And so, thirty-six minutes after leaving his home, Red was in the Gym, laughing as Green recounted battles he'd had earlier that week.

"So this kid, couldn't have more than eight, yeah? Said he's from Johto, and that he wanted to be the best trainer ever. Standard challenger stuff, y'know? So, I figured I'd humor the kid, and asked him how many badges he had. He didn't have a single one, so I told him I'd go get my team for rookie challengers. He told me to send out my strongest team, and that he'd beat them all with one Pokemon! Can you believe that?"

Red nodded. Rookie trainers often were overly confident- right up until they challenged the wrong person and were utterly thrashed. He'd lost track of the number of challenges he'd received from kids who barely looked old enough to have their Trainer Cards. "I'm sure you handled that with tact and subtlety."

Green laughed, and popped open a can of orange soda. "If by 'tact and subtlety,' you mean 'Charizard and Flamethrower,' then yeah. Don't gimme that look Red. For all I knew, the kid could have inherited the family Garchomp or something." Red's disapproving stare didn't relent. "Okay, fine. He sent out a Rattata, said it was one-hundred percent or something like that, and Charizard wasted it in a single move. It happens. "

"You are a horrible person." The grin on Red's face was barely containable.

"Screw you," Green smirked, "You'd have done the same thing. On a different note, Blue says you're leaving soon?"

Red winced and nodded. He knew this conversation was bound to happen, but he had hoped he could have put it off longer. "Heading to Unova. Hoping it'll be exciting."

"And you have her Blastoise." For once, the Gym Leader seemed entirely serious.

"She wanted me to train it."

"And you bought that?" Green shook his head; sometimes Red's cluelessness was amazing. "She wants to make sure you'll come back instead of just disappearing somewhere. We're both worried about you, bro. You've been down a lot lately. Maybe this little vacation is what you need, but you need to at least keep us in the loop. Really don't want a repeat of last year."

Red shrugged. He couldn't really argue with that. "Fair enough."

"Just to make sure you get the message, you're taking Charizard as well."

"I am?" Red barely had time to react as Green lobbed a Pokeball at his head, and he almost fumbled it.

"You are. I've told him that if you go a month with without talking to one of us, he's supposed to set your ass on fire. Got that?"

Red chuckled. It wouldn't have surprised him if Green was telling the truth. (Three months later, he'd learn that it was indeed an entirely serious threat. He'd learned his lesson after that, and made sure to talk to his friends at least once a week.)

"Typhlosion, ThunderPunch!"

Red groaned, snapped out of his memories, and glared at his opponent. The younger trainer merely grinned in response, as his ursine fire type rushed forth, lightning bursting from its front paws. With a roar, the Typhlosion delivered a spiraling uppercut to Charizard, hitting it square in the jaw.

Charizard fell backward and growled, but managed to slam the ground as he landed with a powerful Earthquake. Trainers and Pokemon alike fell to the ground as it rumbled, and the dual-type took the opportunity to get back to its feet and Body Slam the Typhlosion before it could recover. The Volcano Pokemon roared in pain, but managed to strike Charizard with another electrified punch to the wing. A second punch knocked the draconic Pokemon away, and a third paralyzed the creature. Both Pokemon awkwardly got to their feet; neither one allowing themselves to fall.

Charizard shot off a Stone Edge, canceled out by Typhlosion's own. Red frowned. He'd have to finish this quickly or Charizard would be taken out. "Fly!"

With one last guttural growl, the two Pokemon rushed towards each other; Charizard dove down while Typhlosion's front paws were covered with electricity once again. Red frowned; Charizard would probably hit first, but it would be close…

Or not.

The Charizard's wings twitched in mid flap as the paralysis kicked in, and he struggled to keep afloat. The ursine pokemon took advantage of its opponent's temporary immobility, and struck him with dual Thunderpunches. With a groan, the Charizard fell to the ground, defeated.

Red recalled the Pokemon with a sigh as his opponent sprayed Typhlosion with a Full Restore. "That wasn't so tough," the younger trainer chuckled. "What's next?" The master glared, and tossed out his next Pokeball.


End file.
